Asia's March Iran oil imports hit five-month high

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* Asia March imports total 1.7 mln bpd -govt, ship data
* China's imports rise nearly 16 pct yr/yr
* Japan, South Korea, India shipments fall yr/yr
By Aaron Sheldrick
TOKYO, April 27 (Reuters) - Imports of Iranian crude oil by
major buyers in Asia rose to the highest in five months in March
as China's purchases surged ahead of possible new sanctions on
the Middle Eastern nation, government and ship-tracking data
showed.
China, India, Japan and South Korea last month imported a
total of 1.73 million barrels per day (bpd) from Iran, the data
showed. That was 12.5 percent lower than a year earlier but the
most since October.
A May 12 deadline is looming for U.S. President Donald Trump
to decide on whether to re-impose U.S. economic sanctions on
Tehran that were lifted in 2016 after an agreement was reached
with world powers on Tehran's disputed nuclear programme.
French President Emmanuel Macron this week said he had
discussed a "new deal" with Trump in which the United States and
Europe would tackle outstanding concerns about Iran beyond its
nuclear programme. Macron also said he expected Trump to pull
the U.S. out of the deal.
China's imports of Iranian crude in March surged to 726,000
bpd, up nearly 16 percent from a year earlier and rebounding
from below 500,000 bpd in February.
India's imports from Iran were down 18 percent to about
430,000 bpd last month. South Korea's purchases were down by
more than a third.
Imports into Japan dropped about 12 percent from a year
earlier to 196,663 bpd, data from the country's Ministry of
Economy, Trade and Industry showed on Friday.
The tables below outline Iran crude imports in bpd by Asia's
biggest buyers for last month and the year to date:
Country Mar-18 Mar-17 yr/yr pct
China 726,050 626,185 15.9
India 430,200 525,700 -18.2
Japan 196,663 224,604 -12.4
Korea 374,097 597,935 -37.4
Total 1,727,010 1,974,424 -12.5
Country Jan-Mar 2018 Jan-Mar 2017 yr/yr pct
China 655,561 559,081 17.2
India 522,700 573,400 -8.8
Japan 193,796 221,110 -12.4
Korea 316,633 519,222 -39.0
Total 1,688,690 1,872,813 -9.8
(Reporting by Aaron Sheldrick; Additional reporting by Osamu
Tsukimori; Editing by Joseph Radford)